122: Podcast Directories 2018-2019 – Get Submitted

Podcast Directories are one of the things any podcaster can use to syndicate his/her show.

And besides word of mouth, it’s probably the most common way people find your show. What’s it mean to syndicate your show?

Syndicate: to publish simultaneously, or supply for simultaneous publication, in a number of newspapers or other periodicals in different places:

For our purposes we’re not talking about newspapers or periodicals – we’re talking about Podcast Directories

There are many, many, MANY places you can submit your show where others may find it. But you have to know WHERE those places are and HOW to find them. I’m going to help you out with both of those steps, on this episode of Podcastification

Before you dive into the list and instructions below – understand this…

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] #1 – What I’m about to share does NOT include sites or apps that pull directly from iTunes/Apple Podcasts itself. If your show is already IN the Apple directory (whatever it’s called these days) you’ll automatically be included in those directories or apps. This includes MOST IOS or Android podcast apps. Most, but not all. 🙂

#2 – This list does NOT include directories or services that will modify your RSS feed or the contents of your podcast in any way, including the insertion of advertisements. [/perfectpullquote]

MY SUGGESTED PODCAST DIRECTORIES, LISTED ALPHABETICALLY

Acast:

Anyone who hosts a podcast on any media host or storage facility can provide the Acast folks with their RSS feed and they’ll make your show searchable and listenable on their app platform.

Amazon Flash Briefing (Amazon Alexa Skill)

If you want your podcast to show up as a “Flash Briefing” in Amazon, you’ve got a little bit of work ahead of you.

Before you dig into the instructions below, might I make a suggestion? It’s something I recommend, not a rule from Amazon or any such nonsense like that. It’s just what seems best to me. OK, here it is…

PLEASE DO NOT create a Flash Briefing that includes your ENTIRE podcast episodes if they are over 5 minutes long.

Flash Briefings are meant to be short, easy to digest morsels of audio goodness. The Amazon website that provides instructions for how to create your own “skill” (the power behind the Flash Briefing) says this…

You can create a Flash Briefing skill to provide Alexa customers with news headlines and other short content. Typically a flash briefing becomes a part of a customer’s daily routine.

For example…

One of my 4 (soon to be 5) podcasts is a 5 minute “Morning Mindset” podcast. I’ve created a Flash Briefing version of it because it’s a daily, morning publication podcast that is ideal for just this sort of application.

If you search your Alexa app for new skills, or do so here, you could find my “Morning Mindset” – Right now it’s the top result returned for that keyword phrase.

Then, once subscribed, you can speak to your Alexa tube of wonder in this manner, “Alexa, play my flash briefing” – and my Morning Mindset (among other flash briefings you’ve subscribed to) will begin to play.

How to create your own flash briefing

As I mentioned at the beginning of this section – there’s quite a bit of work to creating a Flash Briefing Skill – but you can read all about it and actually get it done by following the helpful instructions here.

Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes, sort of)

Apple has long been the 800 pound Gorilla in the room when it comes to podcast directories. It’s the one people refer to when they talk about their show being a “top podcast” or “ranking” in a certain way. It’s perhaps THE podcast directory you want to be concerned with most, simply because more people discover and listen to podcasts using an Apple device than anyplace else… by a VERY huge majority.

It typically takes 6 hours to 48 hours to receive an email response, letting you know that your show has been approved. During a holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas in the US especially), it may take a bit longer.

Blubrry Podcast Directory

Blubrry is most widely known for its podcast hosting services and the PowerPress plugin used on many WordPress sites.

However, they have a pretty impressive podcast directory too.

Here’s what they say about it…

Our main goal is to offer additional distribution points that otherwise are not available to podcasters. With this philosophy, we believe the Blubrry Podcast Directory fills the void where iTunes and podcasting is otherwise unavailable.

THAT is why the Blubrry podcast directory is significant in my mind. Some of the places the Blubrry directory can list your show are…

Deezer

Deezer is not exactly a podcast directory – it’s a bit more.

If you were to subscribe to Deezer using its app, you’d mostly be listening to music, but it has added podcasts as well. And it uses some sort of fancy schmancy algorithm to “curate” content for you and make recommendations.

It’s worth a shot to see if you can get your podcast included. Who knows who is listening to stuff on Deezer who might become your next big super fan?

Google Podcasts

When it comes to podcast directories I can’t say Google Podcasts actually qualifies as a directory, per se.

That’s because it’s Google. When you are able to search every bit of conceivable data in the world, podcasts are naturally included.

And the Google Podcasts app pulls FROM Google search – but there ARE ways you can ensure your podcast will show up there easily and without any errors.

How to get your show into the Google Podcasts App

If your show is hosted on Libsyn, Blubrry, or any of the other major media hosting platforms, chances are your show is already in Google Podcasts.

How can you know? Just do a Google search for the exact name of your show. If you find your show listed with actual “play” buttons next to some of your episode titles – you’re there. No need to go any further.

But if you are NOT able to find your show in that format, you may need to do a little bit of work.

That’s a pretty cool perk. If you’d like to hear my episode about the Google Podcasts App itself, check it out.

iHeart Radio

iHeart Radio is a podcasting app and a way to stream internet radio, including events. And I just drove by one of their offices in Loveland, Colorado.

In order to get your podcast into the iHeart podcast directory you have to have a relationship with someone (a company) who has already established a relationship with them that you can “piggy back” on.

At this point, I only know of two options.

#1 – Libsyn

If you are a Libsyn user, you’re in – almost. The only stipulation is that your show has to be regularly publishing for at least 2 months before you are eligible to be submitted to iHeart Radio.

You also have to be using the Libsyn destination feed functionality to make it work.

Watch Krystal’s great tutorial on how to do it in this video from the Libsyn team

#2 – Spreaker

You may not know much about Spreaker, but they are another of the high quality media hosts out there – and have some pretty snazzy FREE software for recording live interviews as well – if you don’t mind a combined track.

I have to say right up front that I’m not a Spreaker customer or user but the info here is accurate as of the date of this post and can ONLY be used by Spreaker customers.

Learn Out Loud

Learn Out Loud is not exactly a podcast directory – it’s a directory of all kinds of resources – audio books, free resources, etc. and podcasts are among them.

By my initial experimentation it appears that the content in their search engine is NOT pulling from the iTunes/Apple Podcasts ecosphere, so I’m including it here.

With so many other resources available, it seems that it’s worth being “discovered” by someone who is searching for something else and stumbles upon my show.

How to be listed on Learn Out Loud

The website says to include your podcast you need to email them at podcast (at) learnoutloud.com – and I assume you’ll need to include your RSS feed and other relevant information like

Podcast Name

Description

Website

Cover Art

The website doesn’t SAY to include those things – but hey, let’s make it easy on them.

Listen Notes

Listen Notes is a podcast search engine that claims to be “…like Google, but for podcasts.” A self-funded software engineer from San Francisco, Wenbin Fang created the directory and it appears to be working fairly well (the site touts almost 587,000 podcasts listed as of November 2018).

Pandora (ADDED 12/7/18)

The much anticipated launch of Pandora’s “Podcast Genome” project has finally reared its head – and podcasters need to take action to be included in the first podcasting attempt of the BIGGEST STREAMING AUDIO PLATFORM that exists.

You heard that right. More people use Pandora than Spotify, iTunes, etc.

So how do you get your show into their new directory-that’s-not-really-a-directory-but-more-of-a-recommendation-engine?

From what I understand, a person (not an algorithm) will consider your show for inclusion. In the future, this step may be done away with. But then again, it may not. We simply don’t know.

So get that – your show MAY NOT be included. It’s up to the Pandora-powers-that-be. Perhaps they’ll open their magical box and let you in.

Player.FM

Player FM is a multi-platform app for podcasting that even works offline. You can connect it to your TV. You can access its curated catalogue (not sure exactly HOW its curated) to find niche topics and interesting stuff.

Sign up to submit your podcast to Stitcher

Once you are signed up – you’ll need to go to the Partner Portal to submit your show

Follow the prompts – you should receive a confirmation email within a week of submission

Tunein

Tunein is another of those apps that has tons of content, including audio books. It’s becoming more and more popular from what I can tell so it’s worth the effort to make sure your show is included in their directory.